One way or another — judicial candidate headed to court

Nancy Flake

Published
7:15 pm CDT, Monday, March 19, 2012

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One way or another — judicial candidate headed to court

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A Conroe attorney facing two felony charges for allegedly falsifying her application to run in the May 29 Republican primary will remain on the ballot, county GOP officials said Monday. Jessica Siegel, 47, will run against Tracy Gilbert, judge of the 418th state District Court, Montgomery County’s only court devoted to family law.

She will stay on the ballot because GOP officials could not “conclusively determine” any residency ineligibility based on an application she filed March 9.

A Texas Ranger arrested Siegel at Montgomery County GOP headquarters in downtown Conroe moments after she submitted that application.

“I have carefully reviewed the sworn filing application of Jessica Siegel. ... I have found it acceptable after consulting with attorneys with the (Texas) Secretary of State and the Montgomery County Republican Party’s legal counsel,” Dr. Walter Wilkerson, chair of the county GOP, stated in a prepared release. “Her sworn filing application of Dec. 19, 2011 was rejected because of the failure to meet the two-year residency requirement for the office of district judge.

“While there have been questions asked and charges leveled about the truthfulness of the period of her residency on the March 9 application, as county chairman I do not believe that I can conclusively determine her lack of residency based on her current application.”

Siegel is charged with two counts of state jail felony tampering with a government document for allegedly falsifying her length of residency in Montgomery County on both her Dec. 19 and March 9 applications. If convicted, she faces 180 days to two years in a state jail and a fine up to $10,000 for each charge.

“I’m pleased with what the Republican Party decided do and appreciate the consideration that was given. Ever since I decided to run it has always been my vision to ensure fairness for the families of Montgomery County in the 418th,” Siegel said late Monday night. “Especially to protect children during the litigation process.”

Attorney Jarrod Walker, who Siegel hired Monday, said she “should” be back in town today and that she will turn herself in on the warrant for her second felony charge based on the March 9 application.

“We’ll handle the rest in court,” Walker said. “We are pleased with Dr. Wilkerson’s decision, and we’ll move on from there.”

Gilbert has nothing “but the highest respect” for Wilkerson and the MCRP, he stated in a message to The Courier.

“I am very fortunate to be surrounded by an excellent staff and am proud of the work that we have done over the past several years,” he stated. “I look forward to running a positive and professional campaign.”

The MCRP’s decision was based on information separate from the investigation by the Texas Rangers and the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, stated First Assistant District Attorney Phil Grant, chief of the Public Integrity Division, in an email to The Courier.

“The administrative decision by the Secretary of State and the local Republican Party to return Jessica Siegel to the ballot is made purely on the face of her application,” Grant wrote. “Our criminal investigation and prosecution is based on a significant amount of independent facts and information they could not consider.

“The criminal case will proceed forward, and we look forward to presenting the facts to a jury at the appropriate time.”

Siegel has denied the allegations that she falsified her applications.

The criminal investigation started soon after Siegel’s Dec. 19 application, which the MCRP rejected because the length of residency she wrote on the document would not have met the two-year requirement for the November general election.

Texas Ranger Wende Wakeman investigated Siegel’s lease records from her apartment in Houston, which showed Siegel lived there until late February 2011, when she moved to her current residence in Conroe, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Siegel, a single mother of four who was arrested March 9 in front of her young son, had listed on her initial Dec. 19 application that she had lived at her Conroe address since December 2010.

“I made a mistake,” she told The Courier in January, when the MCRP rejected that application. “It was during the holidays, all the kids were home and I got distracted.”